PLUS: OLYMPICS

PLUS: OLYMPICS; Lasorda Announces U.S. Baseball Roster

By TOM SPOUSTA

Published: August 24, 2000

Saying, We're not going 6,000 miles to lose, Tommy Lasorda, manager of the United States Olympic baseball team, announced the roster for the Sydney Games next month in Australia at a news conference in Los Angeles yesterday.

Only 12 of the 28 players named to the team have major league experience, led by the 37-year-old catcher Pat Borders, the most valuable player of the 1992 World Series while with Toronto. He is now with Durham in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization, after playing for seven teams in the majors, starting with the Blue Jays in 1988.

The team includes 13 pitchers. The United States has until Sept. 15 to cut its roster to the Olympic limit of 24.

''We tried to give Tommy the best chance to have a defensive club with some speed and power,'' said Bob Watson, co-chairman of the team selection committee. Shawn Gilbert, an outfielder with Albuquerque in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, said: ''As baseball players, we never dreamed of the Olympics. That's the goal of athletes in other sports like gymnastics and track and field. For us, this is an amazing turn of events.'' TOM SPOUSTA

PANEL SOFTENS STANCE ON ABORIGINAL FLAG: The Australian Olympic Committee said yesterday that it would not penalize athletes for displaying the Aboriginal flag at the Sydney Games, a move in contrast to policies of the past.

Indigenous leaders applauded the decision, which gives official sanction to Aboriginal athletes to carry the red, yellow and black flag during a victory lap.

The Australian Olympic Committee said it would not encourage athletes to carry the flag, but would not penalize them for an impulsive decision to accept it during a victory lap. (AP)